WHAT IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS?

Even though you come second to none in terms of hard work and effort, you don't get the results and happiness you want. Meanwhile, some people achieve incredible success and happiness in a short time. Where does the difference lie?

Luck? Ability? Effort? Experience? That is one answer. However, the conclusion I have reached through various reading and experiences up to now is that "there is a specific principle for achieving success." If that is so, then the key to success depends on whether or not you know and act on this principle. So, what is this principle for succeeding in our modern society of information technology and huge volumes of information? It is simultaneously achieving the following two things.

REVERSE THINKING (or GOAL ORIENTED THINKING)Reverse thinking (or goal oriented thinking) entails deciding your goals and deadlines, i.e. how you want to be at a certain time, working backwards to determine the actions required to achieve these goals, and then carrying them out. Most top athletes and successful people in various fields achieve results by using reverse thinking (or goal oriented thinking). Although very simple, this way of thinking is absolutely essential for getting ahead in life.

A SYSTEM FOR EFFICIENTLY DEALING WITH NUMEROUS COMPLICATED TASKSI'm sure there are lots of people who would say, "I'm too busy with my daily work to plan my life from a long-term perspective." That is why, in order to be able to continuously practice reverse thinking (or goal oriented thinking) in modern society, it is necessary to have a system for efficiently managing the numerous tasks in front of you, thus giving you more time and mental breathing space.

Problems with Existing Tools

In order to practice the principle described above, it is necessary to incorporate that method of thinking into the daily management of your schedule and tasks. That is why, a few years ago, I tried out a variety of day planners and task management tools, both paper and digital. However, I couldn't find anything that suited my needs.

Problems with paper notebooksThe biggest problem with using paper day planners for doing (1) and (2) simultaneously is the sheer effort involved. Reverse thinking (or goal oriented thinking) involves setting goals for months and years in the future, determining the tasks required to achieve those goals, and working out a schedule, but inexperienced people cannot create accurate plans and so are very likely to make frequent changes. In such cases, if using a paper notebook, it is necessary to transfer the same task to daily, weekly and monthly pages, so every time a schedule changes numerous pages have to be rewritten, and this requires a lot of time and effort. In addition there is the risk of physically losing the day planner. I eventually came to the conclusion that paper day planners are tools for people who are good at task management and can draw up accurate plans from the beginning, and people with perseverance who don’t mind the trouble involved in changing plans. Of course paper day planners have their advantages, but I felt it is very difficult for people who are new to task management, or those who dislike doing bothersome things, to appreciate this and to use them on a sustained basis.

Problems with electronic tools (task management tools)On the other hand, there are many electronic task management tools that overcome the inconvenience involved in using paper. There are also tools which practice the theory of GTD (Getting Things Done)*, in order to efficiently deal with large numbers of pressing and complicated tasks. However, for some reason, none of these tools are focused on reverse thinking (or goal oriented thinking), and I couldn't use them to effectively link short term tasks with long term goals.

*GTD is an abbreviation for "Getting Things Done", an information management technique proposed by David Allen.

The Dreamscope Concept

So I decided to create my own tool. Dreamscope is a task management tool that incorporates the following concepts.

Reverse thinking (or goal oriented thinking) that anyone can practice

Processing of large numbers of complicated tasks (GTD) without the inconvenience of paper

Cool design and easy, intuitive operation

To digress just a little...
All products and services throughout the world provide a solution to a problem. For example, scissors provide a solution to the problem of how to cut paper. Telephones are the solution to the problem of how to talk with someone a long way away.

As for a general task management tool, this is the solution to the problem of how to efficiently manage tasks. Almost everything has this as its starting point. Of course this is a very important question in achieving success, and has been fully taken into account in Dreamscope. I am very confident that this alone makes Dreamscope well worth using.

However, Dreamscope goes further than this. It is made so that you can design tasks while considering whether or not it is really necessary to carry out those tasks and whether or not they will contribute to achieving your goals. As a result, you can perform the tasks that are essential for realizing your dreams with greater assurance and speed.

Task management is really about habits. There is a saying "If you change your habits, you will change your character. If you change your character, you will change your destiny." In other words, the way you manage your tasks is directly linked to your destiny (achievements and happiness).

So, I created Dreamscope as a solution to the problem of how to be happy. The chief characteristic of Dreamscope can be found in this starting point.

In conclusion

You don't need special ability to practice reverse thinking (or goal oriented thinking) and task management. This is because the method of thinking itself is extremely simple, and most of the obstacles to its practice lie not in the method itself but in the tools that are used to practice it.

It would be a terrible waste if you couldn't realize your dreams or be happy because you used the wrong tools. I have seen many such people; indeed I was like that myself.

I hope that Dreamscope helps as many people as possible achieve success and happiness.